I had this same problem but I think I have resolved it. In the Windows logsif indicated that the DLL SCCore.dll was at least part of the problem. I've run into this sort of error before when developing my own DLLs and it is usually caused be a mismatched DLL (the exe is trying to use a different version of the DLL). So I looked through my Photoshop folder and found the same file which was the same size but a different date. I renamed the SCCore.dll file in the Bridge folder, so that I had a backup, and then copied the SCCore.dll from the Photoshop folder into the Bridge folder. Bridge now works just fine. I think Adobe forgot to update the file in the Bridge folder.

Hopefully this will help others out as well.

By the way, I had the same issue with InDesign and following this same procedure also fixed InDesign.

Also, one of the things that seems common among many of us who are having the problem is that I created another user account on my machine and from that account everything works fine. Bridge CS5 launches lightning fast! The problem is that I have to back and forth between user accounts which is a pain.

Thanks again for your efforts. If you come up with another idea please let me know.

What's super frustrating too, is that I don't get any kind of application error, in the event log! When I phoned Adobe support, the first thing they asked me to do was see if it would open in a new user, and as soon as I said it would, they refused to help any further, and told me to call Microsoft.

"It's a user account problem, and we can't help with that."

Is anyone else not getting any error message? I have no problems at all with any other Adobe program, it's just Bridge.

Bridge would not start, click it, get the little circle for a couple of seconds, then nothing.

No error in the application log

New Administrator User can get Bridge to start

High frustration level from user

Tried deleting the preferences, to no avail

DISCLAIMER *** Do this at your own risk! If you want to try this, back your stuff up! I suggest you back up your whole system, but for the love of Pete, don't blame me for wrecking your system!

I logged in as the new user where Bridge worked fine, and thought, OK it's a user thing. So I navigated to the System C:/Users/User that doesn't work/App Data/Roaming/Adobe/Bridge CS5/ and figured, (this may be different on your system, so make sure you are in the right spot!) I'd just copy everything from the same folder under the user that did work, and see if it would work.

Before I did that, I backed up every file and folder in the user that doesn't work, but before I copied over the files from the user that did work, I figured, "Eh, what the heck, maybe it will recreate all new preferences folders, (Cache, Collections, Export Panel, Export Presets, Adobe Bridge Keywords.xml, etc.) and then did not copy anything into that folder, left it blank.

Then logged in as the user that didn't work, and lo' and behold it opened!

I realize that in this thread/forum, it appears that we are looking at a number of different problems, and this solution may not work for all of you, especially the ones that are actually getting errors, but hope this helps someone.

Today, I connected with a customer(Barry) for this issue. And we found the root cause in his machine. This is caused by there has a folder under the workspaces folder in Bridge user data folder. So can those who still can’t launch Bridge check your Bridge Workspaces folder to see if your issue is same as Barry’s? Below is a instruction for how to do this.

Success!!!!! Chenglong with Adobe support fixed my Bridge CS5 problem. My problem may not be exactly the same as yours but I know that many of you did have the same exact issue. I think they have figured out how to fix the problem...at least they did for me.

Chenglong knew how to find the problem and as a Bridge engineer I have nothing but good things to say about his work. Having said that I am disappointed that Adobe took so long to address the issue when Chenglong found and fixed the problem in just a little over an hour.

I do not have the computer software skills to fix this problem on my own. I allowed Chenglong to remotely fix the problem in my computer. He did it useing a shared screen program so I could see what he was doing as he worked. Some of you "sufferers" I'm sure have the knowledge and expertise to use the information that Chenglong posted in the above reply but many of you are like me and do NOT have this expertise. I would never have tried or even know where to look for this problem.

Adobe, do not just post a technical "how to" and expect users like me to fix the problem on their own. This problem came with the software when I PURCHASED it so please help those like me who think your software is terrific, enjoy using it but are not computer engineers.

Again THANK YOU Chenglong for a job WELL DONE!!!!

I hope this resolution is applicable for all the rest of you CS5 users who are having the same issue.

Adobe engineer,Chenglong, worked with my computer last night for over 2 hrs to no avail. I have since sent him some files to work with and hopefully he can make some since out of this so we can all find a solution.

Just an update to say that my Bridge CS5 issue has been resolved by Chenglong at Adobe. It did prove to be related to the last update, which seems to have been somehow corrupted, but after several hours and Adobe Web Conferencing sessions, Chenglong's persistence paid off and I'm delighted to say that I am back to my normal workflow again now. For those who may be interested, the solution required replacement of the Bridge exe file in the end, but all worked perfectly again afterwards.

This was superb support from Chenglong and well deserving of a mention on the Forum!

Chenglong supplied the file for me and it had to be placed into the Program files folder (C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Bridge CS5\), replacing the original (updated, but corrupted) Bridge.exe file. A complete re-install of Bridge probably would have worked too. Chenglong compared the exe file that was on my system with a known good one and found discrepancies, hence the solution.

Press Shift key when launching Bridge (Press Shift key + Click on Bridge CS5 icon from Start menu). If this works for you, the issue might be caused by startup scripts. Then you can disable all startup scripts in the Startup Scripts section of Bridge Preferences dialog.